Apparatus for severing sheets from webs of paper



(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

J. L. 00X. APPARATUS FOR SBVERING SHEETS FROM WBBS OF PAPER. No. 478,409. Patented July 5, 1892.

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J. L. COX.

APPARATUS FOR SEVERING SHEETS PROM WEBS OF PAPER. No. 478,409. Patented July 5, 1892.

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JOSEPH L. COX, OF BATTLE CREEK, MICHIGAN, ASSIGNOR TO THE DUPLEX PRINTING PRESS COMPANY, OF SAME PLACE.

APPARATUS FOR SEVERING SHEETS FR OM WEBS OF PAPER.

SPECIFICATION forming part Of Iletters Patent NO. 478,409, dated July 5, 1892. Application filed November 1, 1889- Serial No. 328.949. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOSEPH L. COX, of Battle Creek, in the county of Calhoun and State of Michigan, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Apparatus for Severing Sheets from a Web of Paper, &c.; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear,- and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters of reference marked thereon, which form part of this specification, in which Figure 1 is a side elevation, partly in section, of my improved machine for dividing a Web of paper into separate sheets. Fig. 2 is a detail View of the paper-breaking device. Fig. 3 is a detail end view of the perforatingblades. Fig. 4 is an edge view thereof. Fig. 5 is a side view of the cylinder and paper breaking and carrying devices. Fig. 6 is a sectional view showing the adjusting devices for the journals of the perforating-blades and the paper-feed rolls.

This invention is an improved machine for severing sheets of paper from a continuous web or roll thereof; and its object is to provide improved mechanism which can be adjusted to out sheets of paper of any desired length from the web, and incidental to this object to provide means for perforating the paper after its passage through the feed-rolls, to provide devices for breaking the sheets from the web on the line of perforation thereof and removing them from the carrier-tapes, and to adjustably mount the perforating mechanism in relation to the breaking devices, that when the length of the sheet has been altered the parts can be readily shifted, so as to bring the edges of the new-length sheets up to the proper point for action of the breaker, all of which objects are attained by the mechanism illustrated in the drawings, which consists, essentially,in novel devices for regulating the speed of the paper-feed rolls, novel adjustable perforating-blades mounted on removable shafts whose speed can be varied according to the speed of the paper-rolls, and in a series of carrier-tapes, and a gripping-cylinder whereby the perforated sheets of the web are-broken 0d, and in certain other novel details of construction and arrangement of parts hereinafter described and claimed.

Referring to the drawings by letter, A designates a frame mounted on a base A and rendered longitudinally adjustable on said base by means of a screwA operated by bevelgears and a shaft, as indicated in the drawings, frame A moving on guides A formed on the base, as indicated, so that it will be kept from lateral displacement thereon.

At the rear end of frame A are journaled in proper bearings thereon three paper-feed rolls B B B one above the other, and of equal diameter. At the opposite end of frame A are two shafts O 0', one vertically above and parallel with the other, the said shafts being journaled in vertically-adj ustableboxes 0 G which move in suitable openings in the sides of frame A and which aretransfixed by a vertical screw-rod G which has right and left hand threads on its upper and lower ends, that respectively engage correspondinglythreaded openings in the upper and lower boxes 0 as indicated, so that by turning rods 0 the boxes are brought toward each other or separated, asis obvious, thus altering the relative positions of shafts O 0. Rod 0 can be operated by'true-gears'O as indicated.

D designates a bar having a series of hang ers, being slotted and projecting from one edge at right angles to the bar, which hangers are secured against a plain surface of shaft G by means of screw-bolts or hand-nuts D D as shown, by which bar D is rigidly connected to said shaft between the journalboxes thereof and is revolved therewith, and by means of these slotted hangers the bar D can be adjusted closer to or farther from shaft 0 and parallel therewith and locked in such-position. In the lower edge of barD is a longitudinal groove, in which is placed a packing-strip D of yielding material'-such as rubberor woodto receive the impact of the perforating-blade.

dis abar similar to bar D and having a series ofhangers d, by which it is mounted on shaft 0 by screws or bolts d d as shown in Fig. 3. I

d is a perforating-blade secured to the face of bar at by bolts or nuts, as indicated, and

whose edge is preferably serrated and projects beyond the edge of bar I, and the bars D cl are so adjusted on shafts C O that as the latter revolve the bar-blade d impinges against and indents the packing D once for each revolution of the said shafts.

c o are inter-meshing gears on the ends of shafts C C, which gears are removable and may be replaced by others of different diameter, which can be made to properly intermesh by adjusting the ,shafts vertically by the means described, and when the positions of the shafts are altered bars D (l have to be correspondingly shifted thereon to permit the proper action of the perforator-blade.

b b b are similar intermeshing gears on the shafts of the paper-rolls.

E is. a gear on the shaft of the lower roll 13*, inter-meshing with a gear E, jonrnaled on a stnb'shaft carried by an adjustable bracket E the upper end of which is pivoted on a fixed. stnd on the main frame or on the shaft of roll B if desired, while its lower end is slotted, and through this slot passes a bolt E 3 by which the bracket. can be locked in any position to which. it, is. swung. Gear E also meshes with the gear 0 on shaft U',.consequently transmitting motion from the paperfeed-roll shaft to the perforating mechanism.

Gear E is thus adjustably mounted, so that. j

i and the tapes H H have av speed or travel much faster than the paper web fed into the machine-about twice as fast as the paper web is fed when the longest sheets are being when gears of different diameter are placed on shaftO it. can be moved toward orfrom said shaft, so as to inter-mesh with the newsize gear and transmit motion thereto.

F'designatesashaft journaled transversely of the frame A at. top thereof, and F is a gear on the end of said shaft, which can be re moved and replaced by other gears of different diameters, as desired.

f designates a pinion mounted on the end of a pivoted. lever f, which. is jonr-naled on a stud fixed. to the main. frame or may be on the shaft of the upper roll B at. the side of the frame adjoining gear F. Pinion f can be shifted by this means to intermesh with F and with gear bon the shaft of, roll B,

as shown, and can bereadily shifted to. mesh 1 that. at regular inte-rvalsthewebis perforated.

with gears F of different diameters. The other end of leverf' carries abolt and handnut which engages a slot f in. a. segment f secnredto the frame-A, by which thelever can be locked in any position desired.

G designates one cylinder of a. rotary print ing-press of any suitable construction and which stands opposite thevend. of frame A, andg designates the gripper-fingers. of the cylinder, operated by ordinary mechanism to a. sheet of paper delivered to the cylinder by upper and lower tapes H H. Tapes I'I run over rollers II and tapesH' overrollers 7; and. overpulleysj on a shaft J, jonrnaled' in bearings (not shown.) below cylinder G and operated by a gear K, driven by a gear 7% on the cylinder, as indicated in the drawings. The rollers I 2', as shown, are journaled in brackets L, rising from base A opposite cylinder G.

M designates a bevel-gear on the end of the shaft of cylinder G, intermeshing with a bevelgear M, loosely splined on a shaft M and driving the latter. This shaft M extends forward to shaft F, and on this end of the shaft M is keyed a bevel-gear m on shaft F. The end of shaft M plays longitudinally through 1 the gear M when frameA is adjusted toward or from cylinder G. The cylinder is driven from the main shaft of the press by suitable connections, (not shown,) and transmits motion to the paper-feed rolls and perforating devices through the shaft M as is obvious. On the shaft J, at points intermediate the pulleys j, are keyed disks N, which have one peripheral tooth or stud n, as shown, these several teeth being in line and arranged to contact with the periphery of cylinder G between the gripper-fingers thereof, as indicated in Fig. 5, and clamp the edge of the sheet I momentarily against the; cylinder while the grippers are closing thereon, for a purpose hereinafter shown.

In operating the device the web of paper W from a roll X is fed over roll B down between the same and roll B and B and forward between shaftsfl C to the tapes H H, by which the end of the web is continually combed or coaxed forward toward the cylinder, which. is so speeded that its periphery severed therefrom.

If it is desired'to cnt sheetsof abontthirty inches length, which for the sake of explanation may be assumed as the length of sheet efor which the press, as shown, is adjusted,

the periphery of the travel-cylinder G and; the tapes travel faster than. the web,,audfor each revolution of the cylinder the paper-rollsfeed out thirty inchesof the web- The shafts G G i areso geared up to the-roll-shafts,as described, that they make one revolution for each revo lution of the cylinder and for each thirty inches of web fed. out by thepaper-rolls,

Shafts G O are so speeded that the perforating-blades travel in their revolution by, said 1 shafts at the same; speed as the paper passing between them that is,,the-circledescribed by the edge of the perforatin g-blade is thirty inches in circumference and passed through by the blade at thesamespecd that the paper travels, this being easily elIeeted by interchangeable gears on shafts C C as described.

. The web after being perforated is received by tapes H H and drawntoward the cylinder G,

which is adjusted so that. at. the moment the edge of the web isbrought by the tapesinto position for engagement by thegripper-tin 'gers g the latter will be ready to clamipand 1 do clamp the edge of the web, and simnltaneously the teeth at on disks N bind the edge of sheet against the periphery of the cylin der. Now it should be remembered that the cylinder and tapes are traveling faster than the web, and hence'the moment teeth n bite the paper against the periphery of the cylinder, aided by the action of the gripper-fingers, a sudden jerk is given to the web and fracture'thereof is caused along the line ofperfo ration separating the sheet from the web, as indicated in the drawings. As the cylinder and disks N revolve, the studs n release the paper and the gripper-fingers carry the severed sheet around the periphery of cylinder G to a point where it is stripped off by mechanism. (Not shown.) By the time the cylinder has completed a revolution and the paper-rolls have fed out the perforating mechanism has perforated another length of paper on the web, the edge of which the tapes H H have brought'i'nto position to be engaged by the cylinder grippers and severed, as before described, this operation being continuous, the mechanisms being so timed and speeded that a length of web corresponding to the size of sheet desired is perforated at the proper point and fed up into position for engagement by the cylinder-grippers during each revolution of the cylinder. It will be observed'that the point of severance of the web or break age thereof is always about thirty inches from the point where the gripper-fingers engage its end edge, and if the feed is properly ad justed so as to pay out and perforate thirty additional inches of web at each revolution of'the cylinder the advancing edge of the web will be always brought up to the proper point for engagement by the gripper-fingers at the moment the cylinder completes one revolution.

l/Vhen it is desired to cut different lengths 'of paper, it is only necessary to adjust the speed of the paper-feed rolls that only'the desired length of web will be paid out and perforated at each revolution of the cylinder. This of course will naturally throw the point of separation of the web closer to the cylinder for shorter sheets or farther therefrom for longer sheets, and it is necessary to bring the edge of the new-length sheets to the point of engagement with the gripper-cylinders at each revolution thereof. It is first necessary to change the speed of the paper-feed rolls and perforating-blade so thatbu't therequisite amount of paper web'will be fed out and perforated, and to change the belt the gear" on shaft F isremoved and another gear substituted which will impart the desired length of paper. 7

To change the perforating mechanism, gears c c are removed from shafts 'O O and others substitute'd therefor, which will cause one revolution of said shafts during the paying out of the requisite length of paper'web. By means of the adjustable gears the new gearingis readily intermeshed. This provides for the regular feedingof the web, and the only other adjustment is to bring the edge of the new sheets into position for engagement by the grippers which, as the parts stand, may

fall short of or project beyond the grippers. This is readily remedied, however,'by stop' ping the cylinder and paper-feed mus and throwing gear E out of engagement with gears 0, thus disengaging the perforating mechanism from the paper-feed rolls, and the operator then turns shafts C O by hand and moves the perforating-blade back and forth. If the edge of the web fell short, he wouldmovethe fell short. If the edge projected beyond the grippers; he could move theblade forward just so many inches. Then by throwing gear blade back just so many inches as thefedge E back iutoengagement and starting the press the web would be perforated in such manner that the edge will properly come beneath the cylinder. Of course the end of the web lying between the perforating-blades and cylinder will have to be pulled out and thrown'aside,

as it will not be'properly perforated, but the succeeding and'following sheets will be. The

perforating-blade must be adjusted also for theportion'of the webjin the frame A' could:

paying off the roll "and not altering its position' on the feed-rollers or' betweentheperforating devices, but its edgemoving up to-. ward or back from the cylinder, as ,is obvious. Thus after the gearing has been altered to feed difierent lengths of paper the frameAcan be shifted tobring the edge of the web into correct'position for engagement bythe gripping-fingers. By ha vinga number of interchangeable gears of varying sizes for changing the speed of thefeed-rollers and the cylinder out of gear or stop'its' motion,

"be bodily advanced -'or retracted by shifting I frame A toward or from the cylinder, the web perforating-blades, as described, the machine can bevery readily adjusted to severthe webinto various lengths, as desired. It will be observed that the tapes do not effect the severing of the sheets fromithe;web, but

merely direct it to the cylinder, the severing I beingeffected bythe simultaneous action of the gripping-fingers and the teethdz, as described, which web simultaneously, and 1 thus obviate any possibility of 'unequal strainpon the web in breaking off. the sheets, which is acommon positively bite the edge of the defect ininachines wherein the sheets are ,1

broken bythe combing action or differential speed of the delivery-tapes, which require an extreme nicety. of adjustment and yet harder to retain.

Having, thus'described my invention, what I claim is-' hard to attain I 1. The combinationlofthe shaftsC C, the

bars D d, adjustably secured to said shafts,

by slotted hangers and bolts, substantially as described, the impact-strip in bar D, the per forating-blade secured to bar (Z, and the interchangeable gears on said shafts, with the paper-feed rolls, the gears thereon, and the movable gear mounted in an adjustable bracket and adapted to transmit motion from the roll-shafts to theshafts O O, substantially as described.

2. The combination of the paper-rolls interdriven by gearingfrom a press-cylinder shaft,

the interchangeable gear on shaft F, and the gear mounted on an adjustable bracket for transmitting motion from the gear on shaft cutter -blade and impact-bars adj ustably mounted on said shafts, and the interchangeable gears thereon, and the gear mounted in an adjustable bracket for transmitting motion from the roll-shafts to the shafts C C, substantially as described.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own I aft-ix my signature in presence of two witnesses. geared, as described, the horizontal shafts F,

JOSEPH L. COX.

Witnesses:

A. E. DOWELL, P. Z. BRooKs.

F to the roll-shafts, with the shafts O O, the 

